Gary Keown of the Daily Mail has redirected the anger of Ibrox fans from Micky Beale towards the boardroom with the role of John Bennet as chairman being highlighted.
In April Douglas Park stepped down with Bennett, a director since 2015 taking over, inheriting Beale and his planned Revolution!
Beale has a similar profile to Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha with only the timing and final circumstances still to be determined before he leaves Ibrox for future opportunities.
The outpouring of anger over losing to Celtic has become poisonous with the treatment of Beale the polar opposite to the way he was welcomed into the Louden Tavern last October as he set about undermining Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Since racing down the tunnel at the final whistle last Sunday Beale has been keeping a very low profile after slamming invited journalists for their portrayal of transfer fees.
Chris Jack from the on-message Rangers Review delivered a stinging defence of the support that the manager has received from the boardroom but it is unlikely to be followed up by even a tame in-house interview with Bennett or CEO James Bisgrove.
That duo have the advantage of not being directly associated with appointing Beale but with fans howling for change there is a lack of leadership at the club- either to do the inevitable or to get out there explaining why they are standing by the guy that spent £14m on Danilo, Sam Lammers and Cyriel Dessers.
In the Daily Mail Keown writes:
EVERYONE appears to have concluded that Michael Beale is the Emperor’s new clothes. It is quite how well-suited John Bennett is for the chairman’s blazer at Rangers that is about to move centre-stage.
Bennett and chief executive James Bisgrove got off to a good start following the departure of former chair Douglas Park by opening up communications, seeking to build relationships inside the game, seeing off the likes of Stewart Robertson — any word on the ‘new opportunities’ he left to explore? — and settling that sponsorship row with the SPFL.
Sure, the overall silliness of the Park era has not been totally wiped away with Douglas’ son still in the boardroom, but it is to be assumed his duties now extend to passing round the Kit-Kats rather than picking the new manager.
Yet, the current boss has to leave first for anyone to take that job on. And it’s remarkable nothing has happened since Beale and his players were jeered off the field so violently after surrendering to a second-string Celtic last weekend.
Giving Beale more time is only delaying the inevitable. By the time he goes, the league may be well over the horizon. The bloke was an unfathomable appointment in the first place.
Back last year, when Gio van Bronckhorst was running the team, Bennett conducted one of those in-house interviews in which he made great mention of ‘raising the bar’ and being ‘best in class’. Where does being stuck with an inexperienced boss who can’t win big games and who doesn’t know how to use all those players he blew the budget on fit into all of that?
Bennett has built momentum since taking over. The fact he’s been on the board since 2015 has been largely brushed over thanks to the messages sent by the clearout upstairs.
He badly needs to clear out the dugout too, though. Soon. Before this season ends up being another write-off to add to all the others he’s been witness to from the directors’ box.
After playing St Johnstone on Saturday Beale has four home matches to be played in front of bears that were left devastated by the defeat from Celtic.
Any slip up in those matches will put the Directors firmly in the firing line with sticking Beale on gardening leave the easiest solution to get them off the hook.
